7/14/08- Surveying Another Canal

Kous and I inflated the raft and we headed back to the canals off of the Woods Park. At first we were considering returning to the first canal we fished a few days ago, the canal that yielded us the most results. I decided in the last minute that I wanted to survey some more canals in the area. We paddled over to the entrance of the canal which was around a shallow point here we had a strange encounter. A goose that I assumed was a male kept squawking at us and flew over at us once. I thought this was a bad omen and it turned out it was for a while as the Sawn kept following us even into the canal. When we got a little out of sight of the sawn and we began fishing. I was throwing the usual wacky rigged Baby Brush Hog and Kous was throwing his Yum Dinger. Kous had no luck with this as he casted around. I kept throwing my Brush Hog right against these wood pilings that acted sort of as a break wall. I got some solid hits doing this but didn't set the hook on anything. They felt sort of dinky anyway.

We headed down the canal more and the water was getting more and more shallow, there were a few little inlays in the canal that housed a few lilly pads. I threw my new top water Scum Frog and got nothing. Kous threw his Pop-R and caught the first fish of the day a Largemouth that looked to be close to four inches long. As we paddled farther down the canal we got nothing. So we decided to leave. The wind was blowing with us out of the canal so I decided to let us just drift out and cast around while were leaving. We continued to get nothing as we drifted through the shallows. Kous got pissed so he put on a long minnow in perch color and just trolled while he was falling asleep. I had continued faith in my Brush Hog and I kept throwing it until we reached the wood pilings I originally had luck in and around. I threw the brush hog right on one and pulled the line tight and I got a big hit, set the hook and it turned out to be a pretty good Largemouth. It tailed danced two times that scared me, because I couldn't afford to lose yet another good Largemouth, fortunately I kept him on shifted over and lipped him. He measured up to be 16 inches and 2lbs 1oz the biggest fish caught in the Captain Kurtz my boat. It had a ton of leaches in its mouth which was a little odd I thought. I turned him loose and he whipped a good amount of water all over me. I threw it near a metal wall and got another solid hit I set the hook and started reeling in, I fell out of my seat when I was reeling in and he did a tail dance and threw the hook, straight up which was pretty cool to watch.

We left the canal and headed back to the Woods Park, we decided we'd try the top half of the first canal because its really close to the loading ramp. I paddled us in and we started casting again Kous with his Yum Dinger and me with my Baby Brush Hog. It wasn't too long before I hooked up with another Largemouth, I set the hook and reeled in another good Largemouth Kous lipped it for me and I had another solid Largemouth that weighed 1lb 7oz. Getting me out to a lead for the week of 3lbs 8oz. Those Baby Brush Hogs really do work. That's all for now.

Thanks for reading, Bass-Sniper

7/11/08- Surveying Canals

Kous and I headed out to some canals off of the woods park he started out using a green Yum Dinger and I was using a Zoom Baby Brush Hog. I wasn't having much luck all day but I did manage to put Kous and I some good Largemouth. I only hooked up with one largemouth myself and I lost it due to my own stupidity. It was throat hooked though so It was a blessing in disguise. We have elected to institute a new rule that any fish that dies or if the removal of a hook can cause fatality or serious harm will result in a deduction of no fish and an 80z penalty. The big fish of the day was a Largemouth bass that weighed 2lbs even. Sorry about the brevity of this post I went fishing a while ago and I forgot a lot of the raw details. Tim one yet another week with Kous finishing second.

I went to the FLW weigh in yesterday and boy was that great they put on a really nice event. All the bass pros were just hanging around and they said they were having pretty good luck fishing a drop shot rig with a Berkley Minnow or Berkley Goby. They were all really nice and I got about thirty autographs a T-shirt and hat. If you ever have the oppurtunity to go to one of these events make sure you go especially if you have little kids.

07/09/08-Nightime Spinnerbait Success

I went fishing in my boat today with my friend Kous and the wind was blowing us all over the place. I managed to catch two healthy dinks, but that was it. The wind was really too much to handle out there. I was planning on using a new topwater frog lure, but it didn't arrive in the mail in time for our fishing trip. We decided to head in after about an hour and a half on the water. We got a call from our buddy Tim around 8:30PM and we decided to head out to the pier for some night time fishing. I started out throwing my popper, Tim was throwing his Hula popper and Kous was throwing a bleeding olive minnow rap. Tim and I didn't have any success at this point, but Kous did manage to catch a small Crappie. There were quite a few people at the pier earlier and we couldn't really troll that much. When these people left are success started to mount. Kous continued trolling his Minnow rap and I decided to switch to a Strike King Premier Spinnerbait.

I was really screwing around with my spinnerbait, because to be honest I'd never caught anything on a large spinnerbait. I started running down the pier burning it on the surface I stopped for a second and a small rock bass picked it up. Technically speaking my first ever fish on a spinnerbait. Tim walked down to the start of the pier where I was and switched back to his Hula Popper after he briefly switched to a Zoom Brush Hog. He was popping at the beginning of the pier, and I decided to keep throwing my spinnerbait down there to keep him company. I started experimenting with it and fished it sort of like a jig, bouncing it off the rocks in the shallows and sporadically pulling the blades fast over portions of the rocks. It wasn't long before this strategy payed off, something creamed my spinnerbait and fortunately I set the hook and wasn't shell shocked. I reeled her in and pulled her over and it was one of my nicer Largemouth Bass of the year a nice 17incher that we estimated weighed 2lbs 6ounces. This turned out to be the big catch of the night, but not by much.

Tim continued to throw his Hula Popper and not long after I caught my bass he got an explosive top water strike. He set the hook and started reeling in the fish he had on put on quite a fight. I saw him battling it in the corner and he had it about a foot out of the water, when the fish flopped off. He said it was a huge Walleye that he estimated was in the 3 1/2 to 4lb a fish that would've easily won him the week. He said it faught harder than the Smallmouth bass he caught yesterday. I think that was part of the problem, the Smallmouth he caught yesterday bent his hooks and he didn't bend them back. I think this was the cause for his big Walleye getting off.

The Hula Popper gets another A+ it is really proving itself as a really good top water lure. I was extremely happy I got my first Spinnerbait catch ever, but I'd only rate the spinnerbait a B+ because the wires bent after the bass hit it. I don't know where I'll go fishing tommorrow a big storm is supposed to blow in.

Thanks for reading, Bass-Sniper

7/08/08-Big Bass in Shallow Water

Today my friends Kous and Tim went fishing with me, at the Grosse Pointe Park Windmille Point. I started out throwing a wacky rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog around the middle of the pier. It wasn't long before I got my first hit, it hit pretty hard and I got a nice hook set. It turned out it was just a 10inch dink that wasn't even close to counting in our tournament. I decided to move on so I started trolling with a Storm Hot-N-Tot in a gold color. I got nothing trolling the hole pier the first time. The second time I hooked into a very very small largemouth and I stupidly reached my hand into its mouth to lip it and it through the hook right into my thumb. It got me pretty good, but it wasn't too bad. That was the extent of my luck for the day.

Kous was throwing a Texas Rigged Yum Dinger and he lost one dink largemouth but did manage to catch a dink smallmouth. Making our day the "Dinkmaster Classic". Tim who was also throwing a Zoom Baby Brush Hog did manage to catch a dink largemouth right after I caught my first. Right as we were getting ready to leave we were screwing around near the shallows and Tim tied on a Hula Popper in frog color. He got a big hit and set the hook he managed to get it over and it was a huge Lake St. Claire Smallmouth that measured 19inches and weighed 3lbs 4ounces. After this fish he took a commanding lead on our weekly tournament.

Tommorrow Kous and I will be heading to my Honey Hole out in my boat the Captain Kurtz hopefully we can manage some big bass. The ruling on the day is an A++ for the Hula Popper. It makes a very big splash, but that makes it a good top water popper for when the water isn't perfectly still. And it was pretty interesting that that big Smallmouth was hanging out in very shallow water and hit top water during the heat of the day.

Thanks for reading Bass-Sniper

Tournament Update for Weeks Four and Five

Week 4 =Total

Tim -1lb 4oz 1 = 16lbs 6oz

Harrison -14oz =26lbs 5oz

Kous- 0lbs 0oz = 7lbs 9oz

Iggy- 0lbs 0oz = 14lbs 3oz

Week 5 =Total
Tim 4lbs 9oz =20lbs 15oz

Harrison 0lbs 0oz= 26lbs 5oz

Kous 0lbs 0oz= 7lbs 9oz

Iggy 0lbs 0oz =14lbs 0oz

Surveying a New Honey Hole

Hey all I took my new raft to a honey hole with Tim and we had a pretty good time. I haven't been on for awhile, because of college stuff, but anyway I'm back. We put the raft in and we headed out to some openings where the wind wasn't as intense. In the first 15 minutes I had a big largemouth on. I'd estimate it weighed in the 2.5-3lb range as it started pulling the raft. The first time a fish has done that to the raft. It jumped while I was reeling it in and I lost tension and the fish. I had it on on a Zoom Baby Brush Hog. That was the extent of my luck for the entire day as I couldn't even manage a hit.

Tim who was also fishing a Brush Hog, but in a darker color had good luck. He caught about five bass including one keeper that weighed 1lb 5ounces. I'm sorry I would right much more, but I'm really tired and have a bit of heat exhaustion, because it was about 100 degrees out there without any shade what so ever. The Brush Hog got an A like it normally does and the raft held up well, we might head back there at somepoint this week. We might also head back to Misch Lake.

Thanks for reading, Bass-Sniper